The folded oe oueled edges of hat beims



(No Model.) 3 sheets-sheet 1.

R. EIOKEMEYER.

PROCESS OP SETTING THE POLDED 0R GURLBD EDGBS 0F HAT BRIMS. No. 332,599. Patented Dec..15l 1885.

N. PETERS, Pmm-Lxhogmphar. washington, D, c.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

R. EIGKBMEYER.

PROCESS 0F SETTING THB POLDBD '0R SURLED EDGES 0T HAT BRIMS.

N0. 332,599. Patented Dec. 15,188.5.

N. Femm Pnumuuwgnmr. wahingm n.c.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. R. EIGKEMEYBR.

PROCESS OP SETTING THE FOLDED 0R GURLED EDGBS OF HAT BRIMS. Patented Dee. 15, 1885.

HIIIIHH trice.

RUDOLF EIOKEMEYER, OF YONKERS, NEV YORK.

PROCESS OF SETTING THE FOLDED 0R CURLED EDGES 0F HAT-BRIMS.

i SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 332,599, dated December 15, 1885.

Application filed May 12, 1885.

T0 all whom, it may concern: l

Be it known that 1, RUDOLF EICKEMEYER, of Yonkers, in the county of Vestchester and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Method or Process of Setting the Folded or Gurled Edges of Hat-Brims5 and I do hereby declare that the following specitication, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part of the same, is a clear, true, and complete description of my invention.

In the operation of curling liat-brims the edges are first turned over toward the crown, and that operation must first be completed before the hats are ready for procedure in accordance with my present invention, the ob- `ject of which is to economically and efectually set such folded edges so that they will be as permanent as possible, and thoroughly capable of maintaining their form at the edge during and after such subsequent operations as may be involvedin brixncurling. It is wholly immaterial in what manner or by what means the preliminary folding of the brim-edges may have been accomplished, although Ihavehere` tofore devised and patented certain machines well suited for the purpose, and I have also devised a machine for satisfactorily working my present invention, as described and claimed in my application for Letters Patent iiled July 16, 1884, Serial No. 137,352, and said last-named machine, together with those heretofore patented by me, constitute a series of machines which are consecutively employed for curling brims in a manner not practiced prior to my invention.

My present invention consists, first, in com pressing a folded brim-edge while in a cold condition, thus thoroughly breaking down the body of the felt at the edge; second, while under pressure thoroughly heating the folded edge,thus softening thestiffening-matter therein and enabling the felt to adjust itself to its changed conditions as to its form; and, third, or nally, the thus heated and compressed edge is thoroughly cooled while still under pressure, thus hardening the stiftening-matter and thoroughly setting the folded edge into the form desired.

In the practice of my invention it is immaterial in what manner the compression is ap- (No model.)

plied to the folded edges, or in what manner said edges are heated and thereafter cooled while under compression, and it is equally immaterial what appliances may be employed. As the crudest means, a common press with a non-heated or non-heatable head and bed would serve for cold-pressing a folded edge as the tir-st step in my process, and all that would be necessary in the way of special construction would be that the head or the bed of the press should have an annular opening to accommodate the crown of a hat while its brim was being compressed.

For the second step in my process, a press would serve differing from the first only in that its head or its bedwas hollow or otherwise adapted to be heated, either by dry heat or by steam, and to this press a hat would be promptly transferred from the press with which the first step in the process was coneluded.

For the third and linal step, the first press would serve, it being only necessary to transfer the hat from the hot press back to the cold press.

As it will generally be desirable to perform the three steps of the process in one settinglnachine, I have devised one, which is fully described in my before-mentioned application, of which this is a division, although two of such machines can be used precisely as described in connection with such common presses as are hereinbcfore referred to, although asa rule, for obtaining the best results, the successive steps of cold pressing, hot pressing, and the final cold pressing should be performed without changing the hat from one press to another. The said machine devised 4by me is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1, Sheet l, is a vertical central section of one of my machines in what I deem its best form, and with the hat-bed lowered, and a hat with a folded, turned, or curled brim thereon, as if ready to commence operations for flatly compressing and setting the edge of the brim. Fig. 2, Sheet 1, is a vertical central section of the hat-bed, a block, a hat thereon having a rounded or half-curled edge, and a guide-plate by which said edge is maintainedin its rounded condition during compression. Fig. 3, Sheet IOO ' the crown and with its folded brim conlpressed. Fig. 5, Sheet 3, `is an enlarged vertical central sectional view of the hat-block, guide-ring, and hat-bed, and also its supporting devices,together with the upper portion of the press, show-ing the same on a line at right angles to the sectional lines of Figs. 1 and 2.

The frame A of the machine may be-largely varied in construction; but, as here shown, it

consists of two side plates, a, a lateral bottom plate, a', a middle plate, a2, and an annular top plate, a". The press-head B is oval in its outline, has a working-face, 1b, 011 its lower side, and is bolted to and below the annular top plate, ai.' This press-head may be of solid metal when used solely as a cold press, or when to be so used it may be chambered or cup-shaped for the reception of water andalso ice, if need be, or it may be hollow and provided with pipes for securing the circulation of cold wat-er therein; or, it being thus hollow, steam-tight, and constructed of metal which will safely endure the expansion and construction incident to alternate heating and cooling, it may be provided with pipes and suitable cocks whereby steam and cold water may be alternately supplied thereto. As here shown, said press-head B is annular,to freely receive the crown of a hat, and it is hollow, and has a discharge-pipe, c, cold-Water pipe and cock d, and a steam pipe and cock, e. Said head may be composed of cast-iron; but for durably sustaining the strains incident to expansion, steam pressure, and contraction, it is best to rely upon brass or bronze. The lower surface or brimpressing face of the press-head is flat and smooth. The hatsupporting bed C is detachably mounted upon an oval or other shaped bed-plate,f, which is mounted on top of a vertically-reciprocating spindle, D. A central stud, g, and a dowelpin, g', serve as means for properly mounting the hat-bed on said plate. Said spindle, below the bed-plate, has a cross-head,lz, through which four vertical posts, i, extend and serve as supports for the hat-bed and its bed-plate. This portion of the machine is best shown in Fig. 5, wherein it will be seen that each post at its lower end is encircled by a spring, k, which is surmounted by a washer and a nut, k', which is tapped to the threaded lower portion of the post; also, that at the extreme lower end of each post there are set-nuts le. As thus constructed it will be seen that an accurate leveling-adjustment of the bed with reference to the face b of the press-head B can be readily made by these nuts and that the compressing force of the springs can be readily adjusted by the nuts k. The spindle D is moved upwardly by the treadle-lever E, pivoted at its rear end to the frame of the machine,a11d byone or more links,l and arm Z', to a rock-shaft, m, which in turn is connected to the spindle D by arms n, links n', and crosshead'w?. For readily relieving the pressure, a hand-lever, F, is employed by which the rock-shaft m is so rotated as to throw the arms n and links n out of line with each-other.

The only parts of the machine to be now described are a hat-block chuck and the gage or guide'plate n'whichis mountedon the up-` per surface of the hat-bed. This plate is provided with dowel-pins, is oval, annular, of less/thickness than twice the average thickness of a hat-brim, andfis one ofa seriesl vary- -ing ininternal dimensions, to correspond with the various sizes of hat-brims. Y It is not absolutely essential inA this machine, but it contributes to rapidity in operations yso far asiit enables a hat to be promptly located in a desirable position on the bed, and it also serves, when used with ablock-chuck or without,.to prevent the tendency of the foldedy edge to flatten outside'of its proper edgeV line whenever the felt chances to be scant at any one or more points at the periphery of the brim. The hat-block chuck olis mounted centrally-on the bed,and"occupies aoentral aperture in the hatblock p. As here shown, said chuck:has an irregular outline, so.. that it can receive the block in but one way, thus obviating the use of dowel pins and holes, although these latter may be used in this machine .in lieu thereof. Said chuck ois of novel constructiomand constitutes the subject of a separate application for Letters Patent.

Referring now to Figs.v 1 and 2, it will be seen that the hat q of Fig. 1 has its brim folded or turned inwardly, as at q', and that the hat g2 in Fig. 2 has its brim also folded, turned, or curled inwardly at q, but with a more fully rounded edge than the brim q' of the hat 'q of Fig. 1. In compressing the fold q of the hat qthe overturned portion is pressed vdown iiatly upon the upper surface of the brim; but in compressing the partially-rounded curl g5 of the hat q2 it is essential that the brim-plate r, Fig. 2, be employed, having arounded drooping edge at its sides. Vhen such a brim-plate is employed, thehat-bed G is slightly concave from end to end, as indicated in Fig. 2,instead of flat, as in Fig. 1, and said brim-plate r is convex from side to side, because it is used for hats in which a partial curl has already been formed in the brim, and this is afterward developed into a full curl by drooping the ends of the brim, as set forth in a separate application for Letters Patent filed by me. The object of using this machine on such brims is to thoroughly set that portion of the edge of the brim which has been turned inwardly toward the crown ofthe hat.

Now, as hereinbefore s tated, it is to be re membered that,so far as relates to the features of invention herein described, it is wholly ini- IOO IIO

material in what manner or by what means hats like q and q2 may have had their brims turned, folded, or partially curled, as shown at q and g3, and that having them in either of those forms I proceed substantially as follows: Whether on or offa block,they are placed centrally upon the hatebed, the latter being with or without the gage-plate n3, and the bed being lowered, as in Fig. l. If the press-head B is filled with cold water or is empty and cold, the hat-bed is lifted fully by the treadle, thereby forcing the folded edge against the press-face b and compressing said edge, so as to break it down, but without rupturing the felt. Vhile thus compressed,steam is admitted to the press-head,and the folded portion of the brim is fully heated. As the softening of the brim proceeds and the glue or other size yields to the heat, the compressed portion of the felt readily readjusts itself to the new conditions, and the springs K being compressed follow up every advantage by furt-her forcing the bed toward the press-head face so long as lthe felt is disposed to yield. Then the steam is cut off, and while the brim is still under compression cold water is admitted and the temperature of the folded felt so far reduced as to fully harden the size therein, whereupon the hat is removed, its folded edge being set in thebest manner known to me. If, however, before the cold hat is lifted to the press-head, the latter be heated, and then,while the hat is still under pressure, the steam be cnt off and cold water supplied to the head for cooling the felt, approximately desirable results will accrue.

About one minute and a half is all that is required for either operation, the time being mostly occupied in changing temperatures, and therefore it will be seen why I prefer, as before stated, to place at least two of such machines under one workman, so that while one machine is at work the other can be supplied with or relieved from a hat. With block-cen tering devices on the bed and the gageplate and operating on hats mounted on blocks, it will be seen that the shifting of a cold-pressed hat to a hot press and from the latter back to the same cold press cr to a third machine operating as a cold press can be effected by a mere boy with great rapidity, and therefore, as hereinbefore indicated, two or three of these machines may be profitably employed in one set, so that changes in temperature in any one machine can be avoided, if desired. When to be used as last described, it is 0bvi ous that a cold press can be cooled in various ways, and that the hot press can be heated by gas-jets or other form of dry heat in lieu of steam.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The 'method or process of setting the folded edges of hat-brims, substantially as hereinbefore described, which consists in compressing the inwardly-folded edge of a brim while in a cold condition, then, while under pressure, heating said folded portion of said brim, and, finally,while still under pressure,cooling said folded edge.

RUDOLF EICKEMEYER.

Vitnesses:

SAMUEL WALTERs, JAMES S. FITCH. 

